Most importantly, you’ll hear them. The fiery, impassioned, humorous, brutally
honest, boldly earnest, emotionally naked, insightful commentary delivered as
only a woman with a mic in her hand can deliver it.
Lyte crammed to understand
you. Latifah said she’d had it up to here. Kim even let you know when she had a
crush on you. But, as has been widely reported, the hip-hop game has grown even
more male-dominated in the years since those ladies were spitting bars on a
consistent basis. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still females with skills
skewering male chauvinism, sharing their own views on the world from a decidedly feminine
perspective. They’re just doing it in a
different genre.
Queen Sheba, one of the nation’s most celebrated poets and
CEO of Oya Exclusive International embraces the stage and the opportunities it
gives female artists to step outside of themselves and share their voices with
the world.
“I learned a long time ago that taking risks is what makes us
vulnerable — but [it] also makes us stronger,” she says.
Sheba
is nothing if not confident, but she’s more than willing to push herself out of
her comfort zone as an artist.
“I think I take more risks than a lot of female
spoken word artists,” Sheba
continues. “Metaphors are fine, but [with] the experiences that I’ve had,
metaphors wouldn’t be able to capture everything that I’ve done and the places
that I’ve seen.”
Chicago native
Theresa the S.O.N.G.B.I.R.D. echoes those sentiments. “The biggest benefit of
expressing yourself is being able to extract [your] feelings and put them on
paper,” she shares.
Sheba
emphasizes the commitment that a poet must take in order to be successful in
their craft. It’s the same level of enthusiasm that any MC must maintain.
“You see who’s in it for the long haul, who’s real about it. I don’t
think talent is the indicator for how long someone will stay in. People have
got to love the downs just as much as they love the fifteen seconds of
spotlight,” says Sheba. –todd williams
